The Holidays and Such

We went back to New Mexico for Christmas and New Year's.  We spent time in three different cities.

City #1
We spent our first day visiting friends, although most were out of town. 

We had our first Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve with Carlos' paternal grandparents and others of that side of the family.

L to R: my sister-in-law, father-in-law, grandpa-in-law, me, Carlos, and grandma-in-law.

Christmas day was spent at my mother-in-law's house.  We started off with the most delicious strawberry waffles, followed by a gift exchange.  We went on a nice walk and that evening had a delicious brisket dinner!  My sister-in-law was awesome enough to take some maternity photos for us!

The day after Christmas we did some shopping and then my parents picked us up to head to City #2.

City #2
We had our, sort of, 3rd Christmas celebration with Lasagna and gift exchange.

My Parents and Me

After two nights there we headed to City #3.

City #3
We spent the first two nights with my brother, and it is in this time frame that we had my baby shower.  There were quite a few people there.  The ladies (my mom, sister, sister-in-law) did a wonderful job planning, executing, and decorating for the shower.  It was awesome!

We then spent two more nights in town, but at Carlos' aunt's house.  We got to see  a good friend who we haven't seen in a while and spent a lot of time with more of Carlos' family.

Friends, Carlos, and his brother.

Once again (2nd year in a row), we didn't do anything to celebrate the new year.  We just went to bed early, so no story there.  :)

November 2012

This month has been rather uneventful. 

We finally bought something for the baby!

We are waiting to buy other items until after our baby shower next month.

We spent Thanksgiving with a friend's family yesterday.  It was really neat to experience Thanksgiving with a family that wasn't our own.  It was a very traditional meal, and we had a really nice time.

I'd like to update more about what we've been up to since my last post, but there hasn't really been much.  We went to a friend's baby's first birthday party; that was cute.  We went to the movie theater and watched Skyfall (the latest James Bond flick; it was ok).  I probably haven't mentioned that I joined a book club that meets once a month.  This month's book was The Hobbit.  This month's host did a great job leading discussion and provided a "tea party" for us hobbits and dwarves!  Next month we will attend the movie together (which apparently is the first of three movies...).

Next month will be a lot more eventful with a date night, birthday parties, friends coming to visit, a baby shower, the holidays, and a trip back home!  It will be an awesome month!

Visitors and Halloween

My sister and her boyfriend came up to Washington to visit us!!  They arrived last Friday and are now spending time with Gabe's brother.  We had a lot of fun!  We went on a Halloween pub crawl, explored Pike Place, visited the Museum of Flight, the zoo, and Seattle Underground.  Here are some photos:

Lois and Brian from Family Guy

At Pike Place!

Enjoying Sushi!

For Halloween Carlos and I just had a Halloween themed dinner of Jack-o-Lantern Quesadillas and Bloody Mary Soup.

Christmas 2011

I was very pleased that my husband and I were able to make it down to our home state of New Mexico for the Christmas break.  My parents and sister picked us up at the airport, dressed to impress and complete with blinking lights.  They even made it on the local news with their garb.

We spent Christmas with them for a total of 3 nights in at my sister's place.  We then went to my mother-in-law's house for a night.  Then we took a 2 night trip up to Albuquerque to see more family, and then back to the southern part of the state for another 2 nights to see friends.  It was fun trying to fit in visits to so many people.  I'm pleased with all the people we got to see and look forward to seeing those who we didn't get to see next time.

Video footage of our trip can be seen here.

Washington Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! My husband and I had our first Thanksgiving that wasn't with either of our families.  We had a few people over for Thanksgiving dinner! My husband and I made the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, cider, and some cookies.  We also, of course, had to introduce our friends to NM green chile!  I've had Thanksgiving at my home before, but this was actually my first time to make a turkey and stuffing.  Luckily, it turned out quite perfectly.  Our friends brought over a couple of more side dishes, some pie, and wine!

We had a really fun time talking, playing video games, board games, watching TV, listening to Carlos play guitar...  I definitely missed my family, but it was a wonderful day!  I have so much to be grateful for, and I definitely took the time to remember all that I have during this wonderful time of year.  :)

Above is a picture of our sage and garlic turkey!  The seasonings look kind of dark, but inside it was moist and delicious!  We cooked it in a bag, and my mom gave me some tips for the stuffing, which came out to be amazing! (And yes that is an aluminum pan... I have a roasting pan, but not one large enough for our turkey and we didn't want to splurge on another pan at the moment.  Made no difference in the deliciousness of the turkey though).

In the spirit of the holiday:  Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Halloween Weekend 2011

Friday my husband and I met up with the same people with hung out with last weekend, and have a few more people join the group.  We enjoyed some food, drinks, and games of pool.

The real fun was Saturday!  My husband, three people from the group the night before, and myself, went into Seattle for a Halloween pub crawl.  We had to figure out some last minute Halloween costumes.  My husband went as the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, but sans rabbit ears.  I went as a metal/punk rocker.  It was our first pub crawl.  Basically there was a route mapped out and certain times to be at different bars in downtown Seattle to coincide with specials they were having.  The people and tourists of the area really got a kick out of the hundreds of people dressed in costume walking around midday in Seattle.  The people were very friendly and sociable, drink prices were good, and there were specials on food as well.  We ended the night listening to a Led Zeppelin tribute band and some more games of pool!

This and 4th of July Weekend

4th of July weekend we met up with my parents in Silver City.  We all stayed at my sister's house Fri-Sun.  We had fun playing games, going bowling, eating gelato and other delicious things.  Saturday Carlos and I went hiking!  Below is a picture of us eating out.  Carlos and I tried bison for the first time (in the form of a burger).  It wasn't bad, but I think I'll stick with the ground beef.

On Independence Day, it was just Carlos and me.  We ate hot dogs and watched the City fireworks from our house.

This weekend my father-in-law and sister-in-law are in town.  We went to Carlos' grandparents house on Friday for a cookout.  Yesterday we did household chores, and finished the day off with a wedding.  Today, we will head to my mother-in-law's house for another cookout.  Below is a picture of Carlos and me with the happy couple last night.

Father's Day Weekend

We went to visit my parents for Father's Day weekend.  We had fajitas, went swimming, went bowling, had lots of ice cream, and played euchre!  I also spent quite a few hours going through boxes of childhood stuff that I still had at my parents' house.

In the picture below my parents are preparing fajitas and stuff.

In the picture below my dad is giving Carlos bowling tips

Wine Fest and Pink Eye

Last weekend was my mom's birthday, Memorial Day Weekend, and the Southern New Mexico Wine Festival.  Friday night, my sister arrived.  We made tacos and played wii!  My mom and dad arrived on Saturday.  After Mom opened her presents we headed to the wine fest! 

Below is my mom reading a card from Ashley.

Here we are at the wine festival:

In the picture below my dad just received a wine sample.

After the wine festival we headed to dinner.  In the picture below you can see my parents and their "beer flight".  They're trying out the beers of a New Mexico brewery.

After dinner we headed back to the house and enjoyed a game of Apples to Apples!  The next day after breakfast and a little bit of shopping my parents and sister headed home.

Unfortunately, on Sunday (after a week of having what I thought was just a cold), I realized my eye was not quite itself.  Therefore, my three day weekend turned into a four day weekend due to pink eye.  Oh well, it was still a wonderful weekend!

My View of Valentine's Day

Things that I do not believe:

• Valentine's Day is not for single people.
• Valentine's Day was created by card companies.
• Some people are "above" Valentine's Day, or they don't need to be reminded that they love each other.

Things that I do believe:

• Valentine's Day can be celebrated by anyone.  Celebrate the love, not only of a significant other, but of your friends and family too.
• Valentine's Day dates back centuries before Hallmark was founded.  While the holiday is commercialized, no one is forcing you to buy cards, candy, or flowers in order to celebrate it.  Get creative and celebrate in a way that is special and/or inexpensive for you.
• People are only "above" the holiday if they choose to be.  If that's the case, why celebrate anything, or any other holiday.  Why not take the opportunity and the time to remember and celebrate the love in your life.  If more people took more time to recognize the love in their life the world would be a happier place.
• There is nothing wrong with not celebrating if a person chooses not to.

I grew up celebrating this holiday.  Even before romantic love ever entered the picture.  I will continue to celebrate it even if it's just in my own little way.  Today I am preparing a delicious roast for dinner.  I am wearing a pink sweater with heart jewelry.  My computer is even themed with Valentine's colors.  I went to Valentine's Tea at my church on Saturday, and I exchanged valentines with my parents.  My parents gave my husband and me some gift cards for Valentine's Day.   My husband is one of those people who views Valentine's Day as a "Hallmark Day".  We've never really had any big celebrations because of this.  However, he's open to the idea of celebration, but we still don't make a big deal out of the holiday.  We will use our gift cards soon, and will most likely consider that meal our "special Valentine's dinner".

So whatever your view on the holiday, I hope you have a great day!

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Thanksgiving 2010

Carlos and I joined my parents at my sister's house for Thanksgiving this year. We all did our part in preparing the meal.





Most of what we had to eat were traditional items (turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc). We had some delicious kabobs for an appetizer that consisted of various veggies, cheese tortellinis, olives, and summer sausage. We also enjoyed some pistachio wine with our meal.

We had a little mishap... My mom got a pretty deep cut on her finger. Luckily we had plenty of gauze, medical tape, and bandages.

Between feedings we kept busy with movies, a football game, shopping, and playing wii. It was a nice break from the everyday grind.

Halloween 2010

My sister and I co-hosted a Halloween party this year. Carlos and I dressed up as "that couple" which also involved a lot of improv acting.



My sister and her boyfriend dressed up as characters from a video game. She was a zombie and he was the zombie killer.



We had a really good time decorating and preparing food & drinks.

Easter

Easter weekend was great. My parents drove to my place for a performance Friday night, and then Saturday morning we all went to my sister's home. We spent Sat-Mon there. My Dad and sister spent a lot of time doing house/yard maintenance. Carlos spent a lot of time playing with my sister's ipod touch. Mom and I spent a lot of our time cooking and cleaning.

My mom prepared an egg hunt/scavenger hunt. It was tons of fun, and of course before that we had to decorate the eggs. She bought so many things to decorate the eggs with; it was tough deciding what all we wanted to use to decorate. We created some awesome eggs; I'd say.

We had great food and a delicious punch!

Oct-Jan updates

So... what all has happened since the we went camping back in September '09?

Plenty to keep me busy. One of my friends and I decided to have a Halloween party. It went really well. Carlos and I went as Indians. He was actually Native American, and I went as an actual Indian.

Now that Carlos and I are married, we are at that point where we will be juggling the families during the holidays. This year we spent Thanksgiving with Carlos' family in Albuquerque. Then we spent Christmas with my family in Carlsbad. The holidays were, of course, very wonderful!

This past weekend I worked a retreat (it is called a Chrysalis Journey). It was very tiring, but very wonderful as well. It is always rewarding to work these weekends, although I do return home more than exhausted. Luckily I was able to take an extra day off of work to recover!

Well, that covers most of the larger events. Once again... hopefully I will update this more often in order to provide more insight into the Life of Amber.